... >> i am jennifer granholm. this is the war room where politics is a contact sport. remember that before you start picking a fight with michigan union workers. [ music ] >> this is a fight for the survival of labor unions and the american middle class they

support. just minutes ago, the michigan house of representatives passed the so-called "right to work bill." it passed 58 to 52. six republicans voted know, but the bill passed. and believe me, if they can do this in michigan, they can do it anywhere in the country. it gives new meaning to the term "lame-duck session." the bill basically eviscerates bargaining. it's a move to cut off the resources that give labor unions their strength. in addition to people funding, we have seen this work before. there is no doubt what's going on here. it is a war on unions. it is a war on the democratic party. today, a lansing state journal photographer captured this video as waves of union sportupporters and police flooded the state capitol trying to stop the bill. the capitol was locked down. police say they arrested eight

people inside, and even used a chemical spray to regain control control. outside, union supporters marched in solidarity, the bill exempted unions representing police officers and firefighter. sound like shades of scott walker's wisconsin, anyone? an effort to divide the unions anyone? republicans in michigan, all of michigan, control the house, the senate, the governor's office, the attorney general, the secretary of state, total control on the state level. less than two hours ago democratic state representative vicki barnett summed the outrage up on the house floor. >> what bothers me most today is that this bill was not discussed ahead of time. it was discharged on the floor then substituted on the floor. members of the unions came up to protest, and they were locked out of this building. this is their house mr.

mr. speaker. it should be allowed in the door. >> locked out. stuff pushed through on procedurally maneuvers. earlier, governor snyder made his case. >> this is an issue that i said was not on my agenda for some time. and why did i say that? only about 17 1/2% of our workers in this state belong to a union. most people do not. so it wasn't a relevant issue for most michiganers. we are losing an advantage. indiana has become a right to work state. i have looked at their pipeline. they have increased the number of businesses to come to indiana and grow in indiana due to this legislation. >> believe me, as i say, this is not just at michigan story. this is an american story because right now, right to work laws are on the books in 23 states. michigan would become the 24th. almost half of the entire united

states of america. what started in the south and on the plains is spreading to the industrial north. i just want us to remember here that unions brought to america the minimum age, the 8-hour workday, workplace safety rules, really, the middle class is what the unions of america gave to us. getting rid of unions will do one thing. it will exacerbate the concentration of power and money at the top and continue the hollowing out of america's middle class. that is why what is happening in michigan takes my breath away. joining me now on the phone from lansing, michigan is zac paul. zac is over progress michigan that uses new media to build grassroots support for progressive ideas. zac has been on the front lines for the past two days in protesting the legislation. zac, welcome inside the war room. >> thanks for having me, governor. >> give us the lay of the land, zac.

what's happening right now? >> i just ran back across the street from the capitol. there were hundreds of protesters, as you said, locked outside of the building today. the governor announced this legislation just this morning at 11:00 a.m. and just minutes before 5:00 o'clock today before the show started, the bill had passed. unfortunately, the building had been locked with literally hundreds of people outside the building unable to get into the people's house to make their voices heard. meanwhile, we got numerous pictures from inside the house showing that the building was nowhere near capacity. >> before -- tell us, explain why they were -- what was the rationale for locking the capitol down is it. >> the official reason was because the building was at capacity. but as we saw throughout the day from people who were still inside the building when the doors were locked there were long, empty haulways. there was plenty of room in the capitol for people to come in and make their voices heard. unfortunately, they don't get in because the doors were locked. >> it's my understanding a court just issued an injunction to require that the capitol

building be open. what happened there? >> yes. i was standing outside the capitol just under an our ago when the announcement was made when a court injunction had been issued, both to the governor and to the michigan state police requiring that the building be opened. form, the state police for whatever reason did not comply and protesters were still forced to stay outside the building. now, about half an hour ago, house democrats came out of the house insisting that they wouldn't be present on the floor for any votes until citizens were allowed back inside the building. finally, the state police complied. the doors were opened. democrats went into the house and the vote took place about 15 minutes ago. >> okay. this is a vote just in the house. when is the action going to be complete? when will the senate complete that? >> well, here in michigan, there is a constitutional provision that requires bills to lay over for a period of five days. we are expecting a vote in the senate by next -- next week on tuesday, and so, you know there will probably be, you know, some more activity throughout the weekend.

the legislature has announced session days throughout the weekend, which is pretty uncommon here in michigan so this is not going to stop at least for the in connection few days. then from there, it will go on to the governor's desk where today he indicated he would sign this so-called right to work bill. >> when was aich was a surprise? >> the governor has been consists ent saying it was not on his agenda didn't think it was a prior to. he testified before a congressional panel this year saying he didn't think it was appropriate for michigan in 2012. two days ago, he was asked by a reporter, he finally, said, it's on the agenda. this morning he went a step further with a press conference announcing he would sign such a bill. that seems to be where this is headed right now. >> all right, zach thanks for joining us on the phone call. i want to turn fast to another perspective over the labor fight in michigan and the nation. i want to broaden it out. we are going to turn to one of the country's top labor leaders, somebody with the most on the line one might argue in this battle, uaw president bob king

joining us from lansing. welcome back inside "the war room". >> thank you, jennifer. good to be with you. >> you were one of the ones who was locked out of the capitol today. has that ever happened to you before? >> no. it hasn't. pretty unbelievable. i don't know it's happened in michigan before. >> if everybody was locked out today and the court ruled the building has to be opened, will people be coming back on tuesday for the completion of this act? >> oh, yeah. there will be a big turnout of working people, working families on tuesday. >> tell people what this whether mean for the uaw if this passes >> it's more what it means for the citizens of michigan right to work states have lower wages, great he were income disparity t funding for public education. all of these negatives for the citizens of michigan that's what right to work brings to a state. it does not bring economic prosperity. i have heard the governor and some others say, well indians is getting a lot of jobs. that was only february they

passed it. there is no way to know whether it's going to give new jobs or not. we know oklahoma -- there has beg a number of studies done in oklahoma, it did not produce additional jobs. as a matter of fact, if you draw a comparison to two years before, the 10 years after, it's actually less investment in oklahoma. it's bad for michigan it's bad for anywhere. >> all right. >> right to work is about lessening worker's voice in government and the workplace. >> if it's not about economic development, is it more of a political action against the progressive movement? >> i absolutely thingk it is. we have seen all kinds of voter suppression, suppression of democratic rights. this is another example. the wealthy -- this is really driven by wealthy forces in michigan that you know well, the debos. family others dick debos, and they want the wealthy to get more and more and the workers to get less and less, to try to

push us down to third-world level on wages and benefits. it's outrage ooze. it shows the tremendous -- actually we did him 10 days of really fruitful discussions about how to change the dynamics in michigan, how to change the climate, with the governor, with the head of the senate, the head of the house. then the right-wing pressure came down and the governor n my view, caved to that pressure. >> but i heard that one of the entities also funding this in addition to the bill yon air, dick devos is bill i don't believeair koch brothers with americans for prosperity, are they one of the players? >> they are. they have a big tent out there. the other day they had 23 people come in a bus, about 30 or 40 total people. this is not -- the general public does not want michigan to go right to work. one of the things we said, we attempted many ways to avoid it, to find a path to work. >> that's what the american

public has said clearly in this last election, they are tired of partisanship, polarization. so we made an outreach. to the governor's credit we had meetings. they know when it came time to made make the leadership decision to say, okay, we can do more working together than dividing. i think he wanted to do it but, you know leadershipwise, we have seen this happy happen over and over again. when the right-wing puts a bill up endings dues deductions limiting public bargaining rights, lessening healthcare, lessening pensions, the governor signs it. it's not on his agenda. >> he has to fall in line. right? >> yeah. >> let me play devil's advocate. those who are watching who may not be in a union, they might say in wisconsin and in michigan and in the last election labor attempted ballot proposals that were unsuccessful, is there a different strategy this time? how can the message change to be relevant as you have tried to do here in this conversation to those who are not in the labor

movement? what will be your next step in michigan. >> lots of people turning out so we have had a lot of opportunity to talk about the good and the bad of right to work. we have had a great opportunity to educate people. the right-wing says this is to stop forced unionization. you know and i know there is no forced unionization. federal labor law says any worker in any workplace, doesn't matter if there is a june yun can say i don't want to be a member of the union. in our uaw constitution we have a provision that members can say, i don't want to be a member of a union. that's one option. another option, members can dom under our constitution is say, i don't mind being a member but i don't want any of my dues dollars to go for political purposes, and we allow members to say that and they can get a rebate on their dues if they want to say that. >> where does the management of the automatic 0 company stand on this? >> you know, they all -- and i appreciate it. they all voice privately and

very strongly to the governor that thought this was devisive they thought this was bad for michigan. you know, i just think that when push came to shove, you know, really, i hope it comes out but we heard many, many stories about dick devos and others threatening people and saying, if you don't support right-to-work, i will fund a candidate against you. so, you know it's unfortunate. >> that's not the kind of olympics i want people of michigan want. i think this will backfire. i think this will help us formal strong progressive coalition to take back state government in 2014. >> i hope you are right. we saw, you know, there is always a question of whether things are being overplayed by either side. this will be the 24th state if they actually do this. this is a national issue. where does it go next? >> well unfortunately, this is probably going to encourage other states states to do it.

as bad as this is there is always a silver lining. to me i have never seen the labor movement come together so strongly in michigan such great solidarity, from all of the un ions. a lot of our members will get more engaged now i think. so itas bad as this is for the general public in michigan it could help build a stronger movement in michigan because we see that there are attacks on anybody that is a constituent group in the democratic party latinos, women lgbt community, immigrants, anybody who might work to voice their democratic rights, they try to take away our rights. >> all right. right. well, bob, i hope you are right. i hope everybody watching this is a progressive show. sports what's happening on the union side sports the workers and the labor movement in michigan, bob king, president of the uaw, thanks for coming inside the war room. coming up tea party ringleader

jim demint is leaving the senate. if you are a woman, a minority, a teacher, a union member or a homosexual, not to worry, he is still going to kick you around. it's just going to be with a different set of boots. plus, we are going to go to doha qatar, talks on climate change to see who has more pull elected leaders around the world and, yes, our favorite: the cope koch brothers. later fielding blue and couldn't be happier. a bit of good news. the face of america is changing and the country's electoral map is changing along with it. it's a thursday night in the rhyme "the war room." we are primed and we are just getting started. stick around. we will be right back. to just learn how to make wine. just a hobby. i really enjoy sharing it with friends and family and decided to turn it into a business. i've done some financing and banking with

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in the new 2013 ram 1500. engineered to move heaven and earth. guts. glory. ram. [ music ] >> big news out of washington today as jim demint the

informal leader of the senate tea party caucus announced his resignation. he is going to step down and into the director's chair at the conservative think tank the heritage foundation. that position not only allows him to shape the conservative agenda from the outside. it also comes with a pretty significant raise. demint now makes $174,000 a year. he's got an estimated net worth of $65,000. so he's actually the fourth poorest senator right now according to open secrets. but at heritage, he's going to pull down a cool estimated million dollar salary. he told rush limbaugh that it's about principles not dollars saying quote, i believe that i can do more good for the conservative movement outside of the senate. of course he has done a lot for the movement inside the senate because through his senate

conservative fund, he has cultivated a whole host of tea partyers, including tea party senators like ron johnson, mike lee, marco rubio, pat toomey rand paul geoff flake, geoff fisher. perhaps his worst was backing todd aiken after todd aikenenths "legitimate rape," he donated to aiken's come pain but his attempts to remake the republican party in his conservative image has errands him actually the scorn of more moderate republicans. washington post columnist jennifer rubin wrote today, quote, "demint has been a destructive force, thread anything to primary colleagues resisting all deals and offering very little in the way of attainable legislation." she's right. the legislation that he backed was pretty far out there. for example, he pushed a bill

that would make it illegal to discuss abortion on the internet, to even discuss it. he wanted to make it illegal for gay people or unmarried women having premarital sex to be teachers at all. he led the opposition to obamacare. he said if he could stop the law from passing, it would quote break the president. he put a hold on the national women's history museum. governor nikki haley will appoint his successor, governor of south carolina and folks who are reading the tea leaves or the tea party leaves predict it's probably going to be representative tim scott. tim scott is perhaps best known for joining allen west in refusing to participate in the congressional black caucus and, also for suggesting impeachment of the president as he unilaterally increased the -- if heun lat unilaterally increased the debt limit. he has the backing for the club for growth.

he would be the senate's only african-american member and only the g.o.p.'s second african-american senator since reconstruction. some have suggested that nikki haley, herself, would run but she told a local radio station today that that wasn't even an option. here is an option that she does have. today, steven colbert tweeted, "waiting on your call nikki haley, i would like to get this wrapped up before dinner. thanks. he is from south carolina. he might be the most serious candidate out there. who knows? joining me is adam beam, the political reporter for the state newspaper in south carolina via skype from columbia south carolina. adam, thanks so much for being here? >> thanks for having me. >> okay. so what is the word on the ground? will tim scott get it? >> well, it appears he is the frontrunner for sure for just many of the reasons you

mentioned. you know, he would be the first african-american republican senator since reconstruction. it would be a great pick for the republican side because they keep talking about trying to deversefy their party and that -- -- that certainly will be a great pick for that reason for republicans if they want to do it that way. plus several sources have told us and told other media outlets that senator demint personally told haley to pick tim scott. >> so assuming that it's not tim scott, who else is in the running? who else is being talked about? >> well, it depends upon what the governor wants to do. there has been lots of talk about a sort of caretaker person, someone who would just serve for two years and then, you know, not run for re-election. a name that's come up a lot for that is former attorney general henry mcmaster. he is a former rival of governor haley. they faced off for governor two years ago now and haley defeated him. you know, a lot of people have mentioned him as a possible

caretaker, someone who would serve two years and bow out gracefully. i don't see that. i think that henry mcmaster has political ambition. i think he wants to run for that seat. >> ain't no way that's happening. there is no way she would appoint somebody -- i just can't imagine that. if it is somebody, though, from the very far right, the most conservative part of the spectrum, do you think that could set up in south carolina actually a moderate democrat in a couple of years? >> well, it could. you know, i think democrats have an opportunity here there is a poll that was released just yesterday. >> yeah. >> that showed that 48% of south carolina angels approve of the barack obama which is higher than the governor's rating. but that same poll shows among registered voters that number is flip-flopped 49% disproved for the president. there is an opportunities for democrats. they have to get the voters registered.

the people who would vote for candidates like that are here they live here. they are just not registered stovote and they haven't voted. >> all right. well are i think it's an interesting, i would say from my side of the spectrum, it's age interesting opportunity. it might mean that there are some cracks in the conservative armor of south carolina a little bit. adam beam, i appreciate you coming inside the war room. adam is political reporter for the state newspapers in south carolina. up next, from sim poseymposiums -- symposia on the evils of clemency to the surprising amount of research they have accrued on the sexual lives of teenagers, the heritage foundation is a right-wing kool-aid-drinkers paradise. we will look at jim demint's new home, a closer look next on the war room. you have to see this. surrounded by a 500-watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. or you could just hand them

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